Sailing craft.



No. 648,9lI.

(No Model.)

W/ TNE SSE S 'Patented 'May 8," I900.

D. BEABDSLEY.

SAILING CRAFT.

(Application filed Atig. 19, 1899.)

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DOUGLAS BEARDSLEY, OF AUBURN, NE? YORK.

SAILING CRAFT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 648,911, dated May 8,1900.

Application filed August 19, 1899. Serial No. 727,773. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DOUGLAS BE'ARDSLEY, of Auburn, in the county ofCayuga and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Sailing Craft, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement-in the class of sailing craft which areprovided with a swinging ballast; and it is more particularly animprovement upon the invention for which I have received Letters PatentNo. 537,667, dated April 16, 1895. Such invention embodies a swingingballast and a mast stepped in a pivoted socket and connected wit-h saidballast, so that when themast inclines laterally under wind-pressureresistance is offered by the ballast and not by the hull of the craft,which. remains in normal vertical position. Practical experience insailinga boat provided with this invention has demonstrated that aquicker lateral movement of the ballast is required to prevent the windspilling unduly, or, in other words, that the lateral inclination of themast shall be resisted more promptly or more strongly at the beginning,so that the maximum inclination un- I derany but a highwind pressureshall be as slight as possible. I have obtained this re: sult by meanshereinafter described, and I have also devised a new and improvedarrangement of the rock-shaft to which the swinging ballast is attached.

In the accompanying drawings, Figu re 1 is a side view of the hull of asail-boat provided with my invention, part of the hull being broken out.Fig. 2 is a horizontal transverse section, enlarged, on line 2 2, ofFig. 1. 'Fig. Bis a vertical longitudinal section of the gearingenlarged. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

The mast or mast-socket A is rigidly connected with a rock-shaft B,whose bearings are in brackets C 0, arranged in the bottom of theboat-hull D interiorly and lengthwise with the keel, so that the mastand shaft swing and rock together. The weight E, constituting theballast, is hung by an arm 6 from the lower and rear end of a rock-shaftF, which passes through the keel or bottom of the hull D at an angle ofabout twelve degrees. Said shaft F has its forward bearing in thebracket 0 at a point below the rockshaft B, while its rear bearing G isattached to the bottom of the hull exteriorly. A stuffing-box H ofsuitable length is arranged to receive the shaft F where it passesthrough the hull, and the same is provided with lat-' eral flanges toadapt it to be securely bolted or screwed to the hull. The means forconnecting the two rock-shafts B F so that they will rotate together butat different speeds are differential gears I and K. The parts I K arepractically segment spur-gears. The spur gear orpinion I is pinned onthe ballast rockshaft F at a point removed from the bearing rotates moreor less the segment-gear K will swing through a much larger arc and inso doing will rotate the gear I to a correspondingodegree and the shaftF be thereby. ro tated so as to swing the ballast E through a stilllarger are, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

ment K below the gear or pinion I, the rocking of the mast-shaft B inone direction produces an opposite rotation of the ballast-carryingshaft F. In other words, the inclination of the mast to either sideswings the ballast E in the opposite direction. be seen that, by theconstruction and combination of parts before stated, the lateral swingor oscillation of the mast A, due to pressure of the wind on its sail,(not shown,) is transferred to and augmented or multiplied in theballast E, since the latter is caused to describe a greater are in thesame timethat is to say, the ballast E moves more rapidly and swingsfarther than the mast, so that its resistance to the lateral inclinationof the same is correspondingly increased and the sail thereby caused tostand up stififly against the wind. This result is especially importantIt will be perceived that, by the arrangement of the toothed portion ofthe seg- It will mast.

when the wind is comparatively light or when a puff strikes the sail,since the ballast E swings more easily or ofiers least resistance in thefirst part of its oscillation, the resistance obviously increasing in alarge ratio as the are lengthens. In any case the hull is left alwayspractically vertical, whatever he the strength of the wind oroscillation of the In other words, the boat rides on an even keel in allwinds and the sail spills less in light winds and puffs. The differencebetween arcs described by the mast and ballast will of course correspondto the difference between the diameters of the respective gears I and K,and I prefer that K shall have at least twice the radius of the other;I.

By the arrangement of the ballast rockshaft F as shown I not only attainthe important advantage above stated,but greater efficiency, an economyand strength of construetion of hull and gearing, as well as economy ofspace'within the hull, besides lowering the center ofgravity to agreater degree thanheretofore.

It'will-be understood that the mast A is to be pivoted at the lowestpointpracticable. The ballast is also preferably elongated in thedirection of the keel of the boat, and it may be made crescent shape inconformity the point where the jib-stay is attached to the bowsprit.Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is q 1. A sailing craft provided with a mastholderwhich is pivotally secured Within the hull, a pivoted swinging ballast,and differen tial-gear mechanisms connecting said mast and ballast,whereby they oscillate laterally together and the inclination of themast causes a quicker movement and greater in- 'clination of the ballastin the opposite direction, as set forth.

2. In a sailing craft, the combination of a mast-socket pivotedcentrally to the hull, a weight or ballast hung centrally on said hull,and adapted to swing laterally, and differential transferring meanswhich operatively connect the mast with the ballast, and transfer theoscillation of the former to the latter in an increased degree, wherebythe ballast is caused to describe a much larger are, in the same time,as shown and described.

3. The'combination with the hull of a sailing craft, and a mast-socketand a rock-shaft, fixed together and the latter arranged in the bottomof the hull, lengthwise thereof, a weight or ballast hung from arock-shaft arranged in line with the hull, exteriorly, and differentialgears applied to the said rockshafts, within the hull, and connectingthe adjacent ends of the latter, whereby the oscillation of the mastrock-shaft is communicated to the ballast rock-shaft as shown anddescribed. V

4. In a sailing craft, the combination of a mast-socket, a rock-shaf tto which said socket is fixed so that it may oscillate laterally, aweight serving as a ballast, and hung from a rock-shaft arrangedlengthwise of the hull, a ditferentiz'zl-gear connection between saidrock-shafts, which consists of a gear on the ballast rock-shaft and-alargerone on the mast rock-shaft, and meshing as shown and described. v

5. In a sailing craft, the combination with the hull, of a mast-carryingrock-shaft arranged horizontally therein, a ballast-carrying rock-shaftarranged at a downward inclination and projecting through the bottom ofthe hull, a bracket serving as a common bearing for the adjacent innerends of both rock-shafts, a pinion on the inclined shaft, and asegment-gear fixed on the mast-shaft and having an opening for theinclined shaft and engaging the under side of the pinion, as shown anddescribed.

DOUGLAS BEARDSLEY.

Witnesses:

JAs. CHIVERTON, ALEX. M. HILL.

